24 Weird Things That Happened In "Harry Potter" That Were Never Addressed

How was Hogwarts not closed down, like, every year?

If you are anything like me, you spent a good portion of your life reading/watching/ingesting Harry Potter content. Many years later, there are still some burning questions that keep me up at night.

Warner Bros.

These are questions I have after reading the seven books in the original series. J.K. Rowling likes to release new information via 1) interviews, 2) sequel plays, and 3) Pottermore, BUT GUESS WHAT? If the question wasn't answered in the books, then it still counts. Sorry, I don't make the rules.

1. What did Muggle-raised wizard kids do about their friends when they got into Hogwarts?

Warner Bros.

This wasn't really a problem for Harry, since he had no friends, but what did other kids do? Seems cruel to make 11-year-olds say goodbye to their school friends forever.

2. What did wizard children do before going to school?

Warner Bros.

If they didn't start at Hogwarts until they were 11 years old, did they have no education before that? And don't start with the whole "They were all homeschooled" nonsense because there is just no way that every wizarding parent had time for that.

3. How is it possible that nobody noticed Peter Pettigrew on the Marauder's Map waaay sooner?

Warner Bros.

Let's be generous and assume that Fred and George simply didn't know who Pettigrew was and wouldn't notice his name on the map (again, a very generous assumption, since Peter's name was all over the news after Sirius escaped Azkaban). But once the map belonged to Harry, how could he not notice that a dead guy seemed to be hanging out with Ron all the time?

4. How come Harry couldn't see the thestrals before his fifth year?

Warner Bros.

Harry was in the presence of death three times before the beginning of his fifth year at Hogwarts: when his mom died in his room, when Quirrell died at the end of his first year, and when Voldemort killed Cedric Diggory. If the first one doesn't count because Harry doesn't remember it*, and the second one doesn't count because he technically passed out before Quirrell died, surely Cedric's death does? Harry should have been able to see the thestrals at the end of Goblet of Fire.

*If he doesn't remember his mom's death, how come the Dementors are able to use the memory of Lily screaming to hurt Harry in Prisoner of Azkaban?

5. Why did Harry need glasses his whole life?

Warner Bros.

Surely there was a spell or potion he could have used to fix his poor vision?

6. How come the basilisk venom didn't immediately kill the Harry-Horcrux when he got fanged?

Warner Bros.

We eventually found out that Harry himself was a Horcrux, which made me wonder: How come the piece of Voldemort's soul living inside of Harry didn't die like the piece in the diary did?

7. For an audience member, the Triwizard Tournament was boring as hell, right?

Warner Bros.

One of the tasks was underwater! And the other one was in a maze that nobody could see! Imagine going to a sporting event and being told to wait in the stands while the athletes competed in another room, and they'd come out later to tell you who won. Boring.

8. Why were the Potters so rich, and what happened to them?

Warner Bros.

James' family was very wealthy, which we knew because he left Harry a massive fortune. But how were they that wealthy? And did literally every single one of them die before Harry was born? He really didn't have a single relative in the world besides the freaking Dursleys??

9. What exactly would have happened if they didn't let Harry compete in the Triwizard Tournament?

Warner Bros.

When Harry's name was picked out of the goblet of fire, the adults in the room all said he had to compete because those were the rules. But, like, why? What was a big cup gonna do to them if they decided not to let the 14-year-old child participate in a genuinely life-threatening sporting event?

10. How did Buckbeak survive living in a bedroom?

Warner Bros.

Buckbeak lived in a bedroom during the entirety of Order of the Phoenix. How did a giant, wild eagle-horse hybrid survive that kind of captivity??

11. Why didn't Sirius use Polyjuice Potion to get out of his house?

Warner Bros.

One of the big plot points in Order of the Phoenix was Sirius getting some pretty severe cabin fever while hiding in his house. Couldn't he have used some Polyjuice Potion to make himself look like another Order member and spend some time outside?

12. The Marauder's Map is the most advanced magic ever created, so how in the world did a few teenagers pull it off?

Warner Bros.

TBH, this question applies mostly to Lupin, since we can assume he did most of the work. Look, I have no problem believing that they put together a comprehensive map of the secret passageways in Hogwarts. But tracking every single person entering and leaving the castle? Enchanting the map so that it would insult anyone else trying to read it? I have my doubts.

13. Wouldn't the Trace be super inconvenient for wizard parents?

Warner Bros.

The Trace was a spell that told the Ministry of Magic when magic was performed outside of school by or around an underage wizard. It couldn't detect who had done the magic, just that it had happened. Did wizard parents have to stop using magic until their kids became adults? We know that wasn't the case, which makes it seem like the Trace really only applied when Harry did illegal magic for the sake of the plot.

14. Just how big are the pipes at Hogwarts?

Warner Bros.

The basilisk was slithering around in the pipes all year during The Chamber of Secrets, petrifying kids left and right. What this really tells us is that a whole lot of catastrophe could have been avoided if Hogwarts had normal-size pipes instead of pipes that could accommodate a giant snake monster.

15. In what world was it a good idea for Remus's friends to run around the Shrieking Shack with him?

Warner Bros.

In Prisoner of Azkaban, we learned that James, Sirius, and Peter transfigured themselves respectively into a stag, a wolf, and a rat so that they could keep Remus company when he (a werewolf) became a wolf once a month. This would all be very touching if not for the fact that Remus lost his human consciousness as a wolf and could easily have killed his friends.

16. How was Hogwarts not closed down a million times?

Warner Bros.

Here are just a few of the incredibly dangerous things that the Hogwarts administration thought was appropriate to have in a SCHOOL:

1. A giant squid that lived in the school lake

2. The entire concept of Hagrid's class, in which the students got to play with extremely dangerous animals

3. Detentions in the Haunted Forest, where the students got to interact with extremely dangerous animals

4. The freaking Chamber of Secrets

5. Quidditch (yes, we all love Quidditch, but that shit is dangerous)

6. Fluffy the dog. For real, what would they have done if Fluffy had eaten a kid?

17. Can we really blame the Defense Against the Dark Arts thing on a curse?

Warner Bros.

Dumbledore told Harry that after he didn't hire Voldemort to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, he was never able to keep the position occupied for more than one year, implying that it was cursed. But can we really blame a curse when Dumbledore made some pretty horrible hiring choices? He hired Gilderoy Lockhart, for crying out loud.

18. How can anybody be poor in the wizarding world?

Warner Bros.

Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration explains that money can't be conjured out of nothing, but what would stop someone from multiplying the money they already had? The honor system?

19. What is the point of having an evil Hogwarts house?

Warner Bros.

If you're going to have a house with as shitty a reputation as Slytherin, why would you have it to begin with? I can't imagine the number of perfectly normal 11-year-olds who were sorted into Slytherin and then became evil because everybody in their life said, "Welp, I guess you're evil." Their dorms were in the dungeons! What kind of message does that send??

20. Why, why, WHY did Hermione take the blame for going after the troll in Sorceror's Stone?

Warner Bros.

She could easily have told the truth and just left out that it was Ron's fault she was crying in the bathroom. "Gee, Professor McGonagall, I didn't know about the troll because I was in the bathroom; Harry and Ron simply came to warn me and ran into the troll instead. They're heroes!" My girl did not need to fall on her sword by saying she went to fight the troll on her own.

21. How does politics work in the wizarding world?

Warner Bros.

Does the Minister of Magic make all the decisions like a king? Who elects the Minister of Magic? Across seven books we had more than two Ministers, but we never heard about anything resembling an election.

22. What were the logistics of Voldemort's I-live-on-the-back-of-your-head arrangement with Quirrell?

Warner Bros.

How did Quirrell eat, sleep, or shower? Did he ever wash his turban? Did he have to shave his head every single day?

23. Is the Elder Wand bound by special rules that don't apply to normal wands?

Warner Bros.

Harry won the Elder Wand's allegiance from Draco by disarming him in Malfoy Manor, even though the Elder Wand was still in Dumbledore's grave. Does that mean that a wand switches allegiances every time its holder gets disarmed? Because we saw a bunch of people get disarmed over seven books, and wand allegiance didn't seem to be an issue.

24. For such a legendary wizard, how was Voldemort such an idiot?

Warner Bros.

His entire plan in Goblet of Fire was the most convoluted nonsense ever. He fell for a prophecy and basically created his own worst enemy. He hid pieces of his soul in emotionally resonant artifacts and locations instead of in random shit that nobody would ever find. One of his plans literally consisted of possessing Harry so that Dumbledore would kill them both. Truly a buffoon in a billowy cloak.

Do you have some unanswered Harry Potter questions of your own? Can you (please) answer some of mine? Comment below!